@LookUpAndSpit I don't feel there are any more steamrolls now than before but I play mostly off peak hours with lots of unfair MM.
In addition I have been meaning to run a time of battle test with 50+ matches during different day cycles to see if there is a trend but haven't really had the time to crunch the numbers to prove anything.

Something I haven't really seen talked about as a reason for the slight dip in number of battles is the fact games are quite often going longer with the CV changes. It may just be perception but I have run into more games to timing out with multiple ships left on each side than prior to the changes. If you were averaging 8-9 battles (13-15 min games) before and 6-8 battles (15-20 min games) over the course of a two hour gaming session for example, that makes quite a bit of difference.

We can always talk about impossible missions, like get 5 citadels in a Ranger or spot 7 ships in a short queue 6 ship match or get 2 fires in a Leander. If I had a dollar for every impossible mission I could almost buy a ship bundle with it.

The Izmail made me feel like the Hood facing the Bismarck quite often. I have been deleted in 4 of the 8 games I have played in damned if you do damned if you don't crosssfires.The most egregious example was being taken out by a Massachusetts at @ 20km sailing out of smoke without getting a shot off in return.

There are a couple reasons I like playing CV.
1. Since the rework, everyone started on the same level so it was easier to learn how to play it well and measure yourself against your fellow players.
2. I came from a MMORPG background as a support class player and like that a CV doesn't have a set role. Sometimes you can go dps sometimes you scout and play defensively and sometimes you do a mix of both. It gives you the most possible interaction with the battle if you can get your planes to the right place.
3. I don't care for the toxicity and poor MM t8-10 gameplay usually provides and t6 CV play is well balanced between punishing uptier game play and comfortable top tier play.

Depends on the ship make-up of the opposing team. With 4+ bb's I load torp planes and go hunting with 3+ dd's I load rockets and go hunting with 5+ ca/cl I still load rockets and scout and pray I don't get destroyed by AA.

Between Clan Battles and this current ranked season, the focus seems to be shifting back to an emphasis on t10 play. I know I am not the only one that doesn't enjoy that tier. I wonder how long until another sprint season or some other option gets implemented to appease that part of the player base?

The other thing I can think of is a clan member attempting at the same time, finishing before you, raising the bar and not meeting the new requirement. Had it happen today, CV went from 900 to 1500 while I was in my attempt and failed because of it.